Rain
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: Rain is a beautiful thing. The sky turns charcoal grey and the lights on the street are dimmed by the heavy mist or fog that lingers low to the ground as water falls from the sky.


**A/N: if you guys didn't already know this, I've been gone, like, forever, okay? Sorry it's been so long for updates and all. I do my best.**

**This is somewhat based around my own slight obsession and I've planned it for awhile, just didn't get to write it. This is the equivalent of my other fic, 'Lightning'.**

**Disclaimer: none**

**Rain**

The thrumming on the rooftops always sends shivers down my spine. I can taste the droplets on the wind that filters through my cracked window. I have to keep the rain from coming in, but I love the rain too much to keep it out entirely. So I let a little bit of it crash into my room, wetting down the carpet so I know it's close to me.

It crashes in the gutters, racing for the waterspout that allows it to drain downwards to the grass at the bottom. And the grass is sopping wet in the morning, worse than stepping on dewdrop drizzled grass but better than a monstrous puddle. The crashing is like a lullaby. It's rhythmic and calming and soft, but harsh in a natural way. I just sit on the side of my bed and watch the droplets fall on my carpet, leaving it spotted like a Dalmatian until I clean it up or it dries itself.

And I've never hated rain. I don't like being in it when I'm holding important stuff that's not waterproof and I don't like being in it when I have to be somewhere that I should be dry in. But on days when it's just me and I'm sitting on the side of my bed in a state of total peace, I slide my window open a bit further and crawl out in my own silence, glad to feel the torrents of water crash upon my skin, soaking me to the bone.

Rain is a beautiful thing.

The sky turns charcoal grey and the lights on the street are dimmed by the heavy mist or fog that lingers low to the ground as water falls from the sky.

Rain is made to wash away drought. Rain cleanses the sky's clouds. Rain washes away people that need to have time to think and time to breathe and time to just be themselves, sitting on rooftops and loving every moment of being soaked by a downpour.

I doubt I'm the only one who loves to crawl back into my room, beyond drenched just for a smile in the darkness where no one can ever see you hiding on a rooftop, closer to the sky, closer to the clouds, closer to being who they are. When I'm out in the rain, I know that I belong on Earth. Because a sunny day means the beach with a guy I love and a rainy day means me sitting on the rooftop, breathing in wet air to know that I am Gwendolyn Tennyson. And I'm special.

Once the charcoal grey clouds open up and release the waves of rain, I'm outside beneath my window, staring out at the glory of water from the heavens.

Because rain is always beautiful.

When the gutters threaten to filter away the pounding buckets that fall, I always find a way to shove a towel to block the pipe that runs it to the grass, creating a waterfall from the edge of the roof to the soaked grass below. And I sit at the top of the waterfall, Queen of the Rain.

I've never really let anyone see me out there because the odds of people looking out windows in the pouring rain are slim. And no one has ever told my parents that I sit on my roof during storms and downpours and even in the slightest of drizzles. My parents might know. I don't care. I'll always sit on the roof and stare into the torrents that rage through mist and fog.

And when the winds are too high and threatening to knock me from the roof, I'm forced to crawl back inside and sit on my bed in my water saturated clothes in the pain of knowing that I couldn't go sit on the shingles and get drenched. So I silently grab my iPod from my nightstand and flip on the only song that I know of that has no drums or backbeat other than an acoustic guitar. Because the faint rhythm of the rain fills in for the percussion that's usually on other songs. It leaves my own rain to be the main source that fills into the gaps of music.

And I love every moment of lying in my bed, that song on repeat with my crashing rain in the background. Because I don't have to be out in it. I just have to know it's there. I just have to hear it. I just have to know that the rain will always fall.

And when the rain ends, the leaves, the grass, the bushes, the flower's pastel petals, and every bud on every tree is sparkling with droplets of rain, leaving the world looking like it's almost covered in frost or dew.

"Gwen?"

Lost in my thoughts, I pulled myself from them. I shook my head and looked down my waterfall to see Kevin dripping wet below me. He gave a little wave, which I returned sheepishly. Only Kevin would catch me sitting on my roof in the rain because he would be the only one with the guts to come out and find me in the rain when he wanted to hang out. And I watched Kevin climb his way up the siding of my house. "What the heck are you doing out here?" he asked, hauling himself up beside me, holding himself in place on the roof by burying the heels of his combat boots into the shingles so he didn't slide from the soaked rooftop.

"I love the rain," I said, my voice hardly louder than a whisper. I knew I didn't need to keep secrets from him. Even something as stupid as this. But I liked having my own little time to myself. I liked being myself and who I was and just sitting out there reminded me. I knew Kevin had the same quirks, but why was it so strange for me not to confide in him.

He snickered softly with a smile playing across his lips. "I'm sorry," he said after a few seconds. "It's just kinda funny."

I blinked at him, feeling the water droplets welling on my eyelashes. Another good thing about the rain is that no one can see you cry in it. No one can tell the difference between rain and tears. "Why's it funny?" I asked him, trying to keep my voice from being cross at him laughing at me.

He leaned back and planted his hands on the shingles so he wasn't going anywhere. The rain kept thundering down around us. "Because I love lightning." His ebony hair was letting small drops of water drip down into the swirling water that sat on my roof for a moment before falling down my raging waterfall. "And the two go hand-in-hand, don't they?"

I put my hand over the top of his, knowing that his smile was that charming one that meant he really did love me. We'd been together for a while and when he smiled that way, I knew it meant he was just messing with me in that cute boyfriend way. "Lightning?" I asked without thinking.

"Remember back in New York?" he said, prodding me lightly with his elbow. "Lightning was about as good as a pinch of ecstasy." His body shifted a little closer to mine.

I eyed the shirt that was clinging to his skin, his faint six-pack showing through the dark cloth of the shirt. I scooted a little closer to him, not once losing my balance on the slippery shingles. "And you liked that?"

A quiet nod came from him. "But why do you like rain?" he questioned, one hand coming from the rooftop's wet blackness to run his fingers through my long red hair that was now darker than normal, almost a reddish brown with the drenching rain. And it felt good to know he was just with me.

Torrents came down around us in a frenzy of rainfall. I stared up at the sky and smiled. "Because it stands for freedom and for peace of mind and for the bad days that aren't really that bad after all." I stroked one finger over a puddle that was pooling at the palm of my hand. "And if you look at it for what it is, it's more than just rain. It's an essence of beauty."

And knowing Kevin, I didn't even have to look over to him to know he was smirking with a twinge of that roguish charm that he was constantly flaunting. His fingers kept tangling themselves up into my hair and I got the chance to rest my head on his broad shoulder. "Speaking of an essence of beauty...," he murmured. His lips lightly touched my forehead.

I felt the breath almost knocked out of me. I nearly gasped at the shock of Kevin kissing me when I always thought that I'd be the one to end up kissing him instead. So I blinked and turned my head towards him. And knowing it'd end up like this eventually, I leaned in and let my lips touch his. And his eyes fell shut so I let mine do the same.

The whole world opened up for us in the rain.

* * *

**A/N: I expected it to be better, but this was what I did at around midnight out of boredom cuz Kasta wouldn't sleep… please review!**

**~Sky**


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